day 17

"The Minnow" ARC 2005 Atlantic Crossing

Mike's Exciting Day 17 Update!

The wind has slightly and steadily increased over the last couple of days.
And it's supposed to keep doing that for the next few days. We are sailing
with a full mainsail and a solent (small jib). We have been alternating
between a lot downwind, and wing-in-wing downwind. That's where we have one
sail pointed to the left and the other sail pointed to the right.

We would be going faster if our gennaker hadn't deserted us. But hopefully
tomorrow we will have plenty of wind for our remaining sails. Tomorrow will
probably be a reef-the-mainsail-day. That's not normally a big deal.
However, when limping along with a chafed main halyard (the rope that holds
the main sail up) that could break at any time, it could be an adventure.

We were all dragging a bit this morning. So I cooked a mess-o-pancakes and
we ate all of 'em. There were a lot of naps that ensued.

We got some updates on Bob through indirect email. Nothing very informative,
but it seemed to indicate he hadn't died or anything yet. I still think he's
a pansy. But I have to hand it to him - he got to get on an enormous VLCC
oil tanker, AND he gets to take a helicopter ride.

OK, I might be a little jealous about the VLCC part .

One thing is very interesting about Bob abandoning ship. Since he left, we
have not broken anything. I will try to keep tabs on this phenomenon.

Fishing report:

We seem to be able to catch one nice dolphin per day. We did that again
today. Cleaned it, too.

Arts and Entertainment:

"The Ref" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" ran multiple times from 6:00am
until . well sometime tomorrow.